Archive for July, 2009

Moving at the Speed of Fail

Sunday, July 12th, 2009

I decided to renew my lease at my current flat despite the loss of our completely awesome upstairs extra bathroom, extra bedroom, music room, and enormous lounge area, loss of one parking space, and slightly increased rent. The whole theory was that the first floor we have with 3 bedrooms, a gorgeous bathroom and kitchen, and sizable living and dining rooms was enough, and that moving is the most annoying task on the face of the planet. I figured that the benefits of not having to box and move my stuff well outweighed the loss of the extra rooms I hardly use. Unfortunately, I’ve already spent more time moving my roommates and friends than it would have taken me to move all of my stuff. Currently I’m delaying my Sunday evening dinner to go help a friend pack his place up and there’s nothing to do at my house but sit in my room because furniture has been replaced with boxes in the rest of the house. Totally fail.

Overcomplicating Things

Friday, July 10th, 2009

Today at work I built a page which does the following:

An iframe is used to embed an HTML page which consists of nothing but a <script> tag whose source is a Java Struts action. That action then forwards to a JSP which uses Java to build Javascript to build HTML to be outputted to the screen. The resultant HTML is a form which calls yet another Java action for searching. This is possibly the most worthless and most overcomplicated project I’ve ever done.

Some Days

Thursday, July 9th, 2009

So, the only thing keeping me going through the terrible work day was the thought that I’d finally be getting a bit more involved in my career by attending a Web414 meeting for the first time. These are monthly meetings that all the trendy and creative Milwaukee web developers attend to swap ideas and give advice so I figured it would be a great thing for me to do.

I guess I should have known I was going to fail when I couldn’t retrieve any of my R.S.V.P. information last night. Not only could I not see my confirmation email or anything, I couldn’t even log into the Web414 site. I tried to send myself the password using the lost password tool but the email has yet to hit my inbox. I tried to see if I had forgotten to sign up in the first place but indeed I see that my username and email exist in their records. Fail 1.

Right before I left work I looked up directions for the convention center where the meetings are held. I then noticed a “Sign Up” link to become a member. It seems I need to be a member to attend the meetings. Fail 2.

I decided to go anyway and try to sign up at the door. I had just enough time to go home, eat a quick dinner, change out of the stifling work clothes, and head down there. Then I ran into ridiculous traffic. Oh damn you, City of Festivals, the influx of thousands of cars flocking to Bastille Days added 15 minutes to my 20 minute commute, so getting any food whatsoever before getting to the meeting was out of the question. Fail 3.

Already in a sour mood from a miserable day at work, and after having failed at confirming my invitation to the meeting, being allowed in the building which hosted the meeting, and having a chance of getting to the meeting on time, I decided to stay home and order pizza. I then drank a beer and passed out while watching soccer. That is all.

Again and again

Thursday, July 9th, 2009

I worked on one project all day and am still not done. My file ranged from 1 line of code to 250 and everything in between. It still doesn’t work and the sad thing is that once it does work it’s still not going to be very good. Tomorrow I’ll probably work at it all day, redoing things and go home late. I am like the Sisyphus of fail.

CAPS LOCK

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

I just blocked myself from my credit union web branch by trying to type my password with the caps lock on too many times.

Sticky, Soggy, Clumpy… Pizza

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

I love pizza. Who doesn’t? I’m cheap though, so spending $20 to get food delivered is a bad plan. Failing horribly at making my own pizza dough and instead ending up with a sticky mess that somehow clumps together and rips apart at the same time is a worse plan. I think my dough was actually a non-newtonian fluid so next time I’ll just take the easy route and order in.

Facial hair… not so much

Monday, July 6th, 2009

So, America lost a true legend last week. No, not Michael Jackson, not Ed McMahon, not Farrah Fawcet, but Billy Mays. That man shouted, and he had a beard, he sold us crappy products and god damnit I am going to miss him. As an attempt to pay tribute to him, I decided to let my patchy, baby-hamster-like facial hair grow as long as I’ve ever let it grow. Given the long weekend I figured I could at least get an 8th grade goatee or throat-beard before shaving for Monday, but man did I fail miserably. I should have taken pictures because I sure looked awful, but I think I can describe it fairly well. Decent sideburns, but only in the mutton chop area – completely disconnected from the hair on my temple. Thin molestache, patchy spots all down my throat, and a decent lower chin but certainly not enough for a real goatee. Sadly, the most consistent area of hair I had were the throat patches which connect to my hairy neck. I guess I’ll just keep shaving regularily, though there’s nothing more insulting than shaving every day but still not being able to grow any facial hair at all.

Sweaty, Awkward, and Uncomfortable

Friday, July 3rd, 2009

I went on quite a long bike ride this morning and as I was tackling the last big hill before getting home I was really tempted to just get off of my bike and walk the rest of the way. As soon as that thought entered my mind a social acquaintence of mine hopped out of the car I was biking past. I was faced with the decision to either hop off of my bike to spare my legs and enter an awkward conversation, or to bike on pretending to have not seen him. I of course chose to bike on, grunting my way up a steep incline on a crappy bike with a bad knee and 20 miles behind me. I sure am willing to go through a lot of physical pain to avoid a little social contact.

An Addiction

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

Look, this is me not spending my evening on the computer. Look at me doing truly productive things and not sitting online wasting time. Look at me have a life.